21st Oct Wednesday
woke up to a very sunny and windy day but by the time I got up and headed out it started raining. It wasn't very heavy but I still got wet. Got what i needed doing then headed back to Johns. Went out again later for some lunch and got rained on again. Spent the rest of the afternoon researching unpaved roads and decided I needed some old fashioned paper maps so I could mark the trails off on. 

22nd Oct Thursday
Bright sunny and windy again today, took a trip to the local AA shop and bought a couple of maps. Also picked up a cheap pay as you go mobile. I must not lose this one lol. Got back and decided to to do the oil change. The new sump plug seal I bought from Suzuki was the wrong one and the copper sealing washer didn't look like it has ever been replaced and the sump plug was sealed with a gasket cement. I tried annealing the old copper washer but it was only fit for the bin, so with John at work and me now with no transport I searched Johns garage to see if I could find the little box that  we all have full of assorted nuts bolts and washers but could not find one. So necessity being the mother of invention I found an old spark plug and took the sealing washer from that and it seems to have done the trick. Took the bike out for a test ride, road to the Puhoi pub for a late lunch beer but this time went the long way round and found some very scenic gravel roads. The sump plug was fine no leaks. 

John and paid a visit to Ferg another blast from the past, somewhere in the late 80's was the last time we met. Had a good night catching up. Found out he is now working at the Auckland Indian dealers as sales manger so asked if I could come and have a test ride on one? "Yes off course" he said.

23rd Oct Friday
Sunny and windy with ever changing clouds, seems to be the norm here in Auckland. Didn't get up too early as I wasn't keen on test riding bikes during rush hour, not because of the traffic but seems to be more police around or maybe I notice them more as they pull over more people.
Met Ferg at the shop at about 10 signed on the line and then spent the day playing on bikes. I took out the new Indian Scout first and thoroughly  enjoyed it. A joy to ride and would be a fantastic bike for chugging around NZ totally impractical for me but would be a welcome addition to my toy cupboard. Next I took out one of the Chiefs and again I was pleasantly surprised, mainly with the engine. In top gear it would happily plod along at 50kph and was easy to ride, the gearbox was smooth unlike the clunky Harley boxes. The Victory though was much like a harley and was still good fun but not as refined as the indians.